One of our favorite things to do at Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) is to give shoutouts to our amazing volunteers, and this month, we’d like to share our gratitude for the very talented photographer and ocean conservationist Bo Pardau.
Since July of 2022, Bo has been volunteering with our Hawai’i Island chapter as our underwater (UW) photographer – and boy, is he good at it!
From left: ODA Founder Kurt Lieber with ocean cleanup volunteers Bo and Jamie Pardau at
a Big Island fundraising event, summer 2024.
In this article, we’ll be sharing some of Bo’s excellent documentation of our ocean cleanups. Unfortunately, because he is so often behind the camera, we have very few photos of him! Please believe us when we tell you that he has been with our Big Island crew on at least two dozen cleanups in the last couple of years. :)
Our Founder and President Kurt Lieber shares the following about Bo:
I’ve been taking underwater pictures for decades now and am still learning how to get better. As most of you who have tried to capture the beauty of the underwater world know, it’s extremely hard to do.
The lighting is the most important. Because the sunlight changes constantly with the clouds and direction of the sun to the subject it really makes you adjust your camera settings for just about every shot. This is NOT point and shoot photography!
Bo Pardau seems to have this UW photography down to a science.
Bo has been participating in our dives for about two years now, and even before I met him in person I was in awe of his talents.
In 2022, I went to a photo gallery in Kona, Hawai’i, where several UW photographers had their prized photos on display. That’s the first time I met him in person, and I’ll never forget the high quality of what his pictures looked like in print. They really jumped to life.
To be able to use Bo’s pictures for the stories we post on our website makes our underwater cleanups even more rewarding when you get to see how his pictures make the subjects pop and sparkle and how well he documents our crews’ tedious work of removing abandoned fishing gear.
Bo is a fantastic addition to our ODA dive team, and you’d never know when talking to him that he is one of the best at his trade out there. His photography has been featured in many of the top magazines, and he had an image displayed in an art exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum that was curated by Brian Skerry who works for National Geographic.
He and his wife, Jamie, have been going out on each of the monthly dives that ODA does around the Kona area. They both live their lives laser focused on how to make the underwater world rebound from the neglect humans inflict on the oceans.
From the first time I met them, I knew they were special. ODA is very fortunate to have them on our side.
Dear Reader, after you read our Q&A interview with Bo, be sure to look at the photo gallery below and watch his video interview!
Enjoy our Q&A with Bo
Q: What drew your attention to the ocean and when?
A: I was more of a backpacker in my youth, so it wasn't until 1990, and I was 40 years old that I decided to get dive certified along with my girlfriend, now my wife, and once I dove into the ocean I instantly found out what I had been missing. I soon realized that I had to learn underwater photography so I could show my friends what beauty there is that they may never see.
Q: What does your job as an ODA documentarian entail?
A: I start at the beginning of the day documenting the crew in a group photo before they set out on the expedition. At the end of the day, I take another group shot but this time with the debris they’ve collected; we call this picture “Crew with the Catch of the Day.”
Crew with Catch of the Day: This is one of the rare times Bo is in the picture, but you can barely see him. He is to Kurt's right with the visor on. Jamie is in the front row middle, kneeling behind the banner.
During the usually two dive cleanups per outing, I’m frantically swimming around trying to catch the moments that someone is pulling off line, lures, lead, and nets from the reef. Near the end of the dive, I have everyone gather under the boat with their “booty” and catch a wide angle shot....sorta like herding kittens, and that has been a real hit. I then process all the images and send them to Kurt as well as posting them on my Facebook page.
Q: What is your favorite photograph you’ve taken for ODA?
A: This is my favorite shot – from June 21, 2024 – one of the “booty” shots.
Q: What are your favorite ODA expeditions?
A: Being that I am the photo documenter, I’m not wearing gloves, so I only point to items to be collected or just take pictures. On one site called "Deep Step" there was so much to gather that I had all the images I needed from one dive. So, on the next dive I went down, sans camera, and helped gather. That’s when I found how easily ODA volunteers get drawn into ridding the reef of all this garbage. It was a deep slope, so it was too easy to approach “no deco” (no decompression) time, so I had to be extra alert.
Q: Any funny stories to share from an ODA cleanup?
A: Perhaps more of a “feel good” story about a young gal and first-time volunteer who went down without the requisite gloves and lost her engagement ring during the dive. We were all heart-broken for her. A few months later we were out again, and, at the end of the dives, we empty the bags into bins, and out pops this ring! Apparently, the ring slipped off her hand and went into the bag. We took a picture of it, sent it in a text, and she immediately wrote back that, yes, that was her ring. The whole crew was cheering!
Q: Why do you like volunteering with ODA?
A: The story above indicates one of the reasons I like volunteering with ODA. We quickly bond as a family (ohana) around a shared goal. It also makes one feel good that you’re helping to save our reefs and helping raise awareness to the ocean’s plight. My Facebook posts after an outing are very popular so I can see that many people agree it’s the right thing to do.
Q: Your wife also volunteers. Can you talk about the positives of volunteering together? Did one or the other start first with ODA or did you both “dive in” at the same time?
A: Jamie and I started at the same time, and she buddies up with a friend to collect debris while I wander (swim) around shooting pictures. In between dives, we all sit around on the boat deck and talk about what we saw and just bond as a community of divers. I always enjoy diving with her whether it’s work or recreation.
Q: Aside from diving with ODA, where else do you like to dive and why?
A: We moved to Hawai’i 20 years ago with diving here being the primary reason and that has only grown stronger over the years. I worked as a night guide for Kona Honu Divers and focused on the manta ray dives and became very involved with Manta Pacific Research Foundation to help protect these gentle giants. We also take at least two week-long trips to other places strictly for diving and we are both photographers. We have traveled extensively around the world but probably our favorite spot is the Philippines. Jamie prefers macro subjects, and I prefer wide angle, and we can both be satisfied there. I also like Tonga for humpback whales and Palau for sharks
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
A: For 40 years, I never knew what I was missing, and I am thankful for having my eyes opened. I think if more people were truly aware of what is at stake – if we lose our clean oceans – more could be done to save them. We need people like Kurt and ODA to keep this in the foreground of our thoughts and we need advocates that help educate the general public. If the public understands, the pressure goes up for politicians to allocate the money to improve conditions.
We hope Bo's story inspired you! If you're ready to help out on a cleanup we need all kinds of volunteers, not just divers. We have many opportunities for people who don't scuba dive such as helping as a deckhand on the boat or doing an onshore cleanup. If you would like to help from where you are, your finanical support is just as important - thank you!
Be sure to check out all the beautiful photos of Bo's below...AFTER you watch his video interview!
